


Sleeping Warrior Prompts

by Dances_In_Ashes



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-06 04:21:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8734702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dances_In_Ashes/pseuds/Dances_In_Ashes
Summary: Anon asked for Sleeping Warrior, 27





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Anon asked for Sleeping Warrior, 27

"Wonder if you ever see me  
And I wonder if you know I’m there  
If you looked in my eyes  
Would you see what’s inside  
Would you even care?

I just wanna hold you close  
But so far all I have are dreams of you  
So I wait for the day (wait for the day)  
And the courage to say  
How much I love you."

-Selena, "Dreaming Of You"

 

The stars twinkled solemnly overhead, silent as always, no matter how long or how loud she pleaded with them. Tonight found her lying on her back on her bed roll, hands behind her head, her leather and armour still in place, sword within easy reach. Fortune had smiled on them thus far, and they’d encountered little resistance on their journey, but one always had to remain vigilant.

With the remaining embers of the fire burning red between herself and her companions, she was left to herself to think; how things had changed, how things remained the same.

With Philip back with them, there were no longer easy smiles or the brushing of shoulders. Aurora no longer sat close to her by the fire at night, making excuses about the cold they both knew were lies. The familiarity was gone, and in it’s place a chasm had grown. 

 

So once again Mulan pondered, staring up at the vast array of stars that winked down at the world, what it had all meant: had she only been a surrogate for Philip, just a warm body to cozy up to? Because the feelings that pounded away in her heart were not simply illusion, and the fear they coaxed from her, of the threat of being Aurora’s little love-sick puppy, was enough to send her eyes across camp.

For now, she had her dreams and the memories of not-so-long-ago, and the fraying hope that one day the princess would look into her eyes like she used to and see.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked for Sleeping Warrior, 69 (mmmmmhmmm I see what you did)

"She likens herself as to one of the greats  
But if you look in her eyes  
All you see is hate  
She screams her insecurities  
And the foolish things she thinks  
She’s just a broken toy  
In a land of make believe."

-Butcher Babies, "Dead Poet"

 

They’ve been sitting in silence for a while now, with nothing but the occasional caw of a raven to disrupt the quiet. 

Phillip had left to go find wood, but Aurora suspected it had simply been an excuse for him to leave the two of them alone; somehow he’d known they needed to talk. And here they were, not talking. The raven-haired warrior had turned her back the moment the prince had stepped out, and had continued to ignore her. It was childish and irritating, and Aurora might have been more upset, but she could see the tense line of the woman’s shoulders, her posture more perfect than usual. 

It took a moment to gather her courage, and her dress, but she finally crossed the camp to sit beside Mulan. The woman stiffened immediately, her motions becoming rougher as she continued to sharpen her sword after only a brief moment of hesitation. The princess watched her work for a while longer, then slumped sideways to lean into her side like she used to; the effect was immediate, complete with Mulan dropping her whetstone.

 

“I’m glad you came back to us,” she whispered, referencing her return to them from the Merry Men, “and I’m sorry you thought you had to leave.” Leaning over, she pressed a delicate kiss to the woman’s cheek, which flushed under the attention, “Don’t leave me again, I’d rather like to avoid another heartbreak.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> redrge asked for Sleeping Warrior, 111

"You were that foundation  
Never gonna be another one, no  
I followed, so taken  
So conditioned I could never let go  
Then sorrow, then sickness,  
Then the shock when you flip it on me  
So hollow, so vicious  
So afraid, I couldn’t let myself see."

-Linkin Park, "Lost In The Echo"

 

She knows she should have known, that she allowed her feelings and emotions to blind her to what she otherwise saw. It was something she had never done before –to let her feelings sway her thoughts, her reasoning, her decisions. Mulan knew herself to be calculated and regimented, priding herself on her ability to plan and foresee. 

But somewhere along the way, she had allowed her mission to turn into something personal, and that’s where she saw she had failed. She should have kept the blonde princess at arm’s length and completed her duty and walked away; instead, she had fallen. The touches and glances had been easy enough to brush off as the princess’s need for companionship since her Phillip had been taken. Even when, on a chilly night, the girl had crawled into her sleeping pallet and made the feeble excuse that it would benefit them both if they shared body heat, and it had thereafter become a nightly occurrence.

She should have known that once they’d rescued Phillip, the attentions would wane and cease, that it had not been real. But her heart had betrayed her as surely as Aurora had, and so when she left for Robin Hood’s band, she promised to never let herself make the same mistake again.

The cost of love lost that had barely begun was not something she was willing to pay again.


End file.
